If you’re like most business owners, marketing is a topic that you may regard as complex and overwhelming. You read a ton of information but find that you either experience paralysis by analysis or you just go round and round in circles. Even worse, if you do execute any marketing, you’re worried that you’re turning off your customers by marketing in the wrong way. We get it — it feels like a risk. But here’s the good news: when you have a website with iPage, you can market to your target audience in the right way — the way that attracts buyers to your site.
Here are some tips to make it happen:
- 1. Know Your Target Audience
The first step in marketing is to review your website and make sure that it is crafted in a way that attracts the audience that is most likely to be interested. Tailor your content so that you use words that speak the same language as your audience. This means making sure that you avoid cliches and general statements. You may want to take a look at your customer list to see the demographics and measure the temperature of what may have changed in their approach or philosophy. This is an ongoing activity. As your audience grows and changes, your content must grow and change with it. When you evolve your marketing so that your message is always aligned with your customers, you end up “marketing without marketing.”
- Know that Guerilla Marketing Doesn’t Usually Work
In the past, some website owners have used the ‘guerilla marketing’ approach. This is the attempt to send your information and marketing out to anyone and everyone (and beyond) with the hope that, solely due to percentages and chances, someone will be interested and follow up. This approach is considered to be a numbers game: The more you send out, the more likely it is someone will be interested. While this approach can lead to some success, the truth is, it usually causes more harm than good as it can be annoying to those that value their inbox and their time (which is everyone these days). Therefore, you can end up losing potential customers … because while their interest in your product or service might be high, they’re too distracted by the dissatisfaction of the approach to even notice it.
- Craft a Message that Resonates
We’ve briefly discussed the content on your website, now let’s think about your message. Whether it be sent via email, social media, or even snail mail, you need to make sure your message hits home. Begin by crafting a message that addresses the ‘pain points’ of your customers and then offers your business as the solution. However, if possible, try to avoid using words like “solution.” (Yes, we realize we just used it, but you should not when it comes to customer messages:) ) It’s an overused word that rarely makes a business stand out. So get creative! And come up with something fresh. Then, after you think of your unique selling point, make sure that you use a call to action so that your readers can learn more or make a purchase.
- Analyze Your Website Growth
Your customers are often inspired by things that are happening in the news and by what is trending. When you use analysis tools such as Google Analytics and social media sites, you can easily keep your fingers on the pulse of what’s moving and trending. Do some digging to discover relevant topics that are being discussed and then use this information to drive your conceptual development for your content marketing.
Here’s a simple tip: On the left hand side of your Twitter homepage, you’ll see the top leading #hashtags circulating the web at the moment. Pick one, and tie it into your business offering!
Nothing in today’s internet world is static, which means mean that you need to constantly keep up with marketing trends. But when you take time to market your business to your customers in the right way, you can start to see business growth. With just a little effort, you can drill down to see what appeals to your customers so that you can start conversations that engage and lead to an eventual purchase. And that’s the best path to market to your target audience.
Good luck!
